


Lost In A World That Dosen't Exist

by Roxyxen



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Bringing all my otps into this, College AU, F/F, Human AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 14:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 4,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4352291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roxyxen/pseuds/Roxyxen





	1. The General Beginning

**The smell of coffee filled the air.**

 

As it always did at the coffee shop. Pearl was one of the head baristas at the cafe and she always took her job very seriously. 

 

She enjoyed the smell and the warm, gentle community. People reading books or listening to music. Peaceful relaxation.

As she continued to take in the scenery surrounding her, a tall female walked in.

 

Her skin was dark. She had thick, puffy hair and her eyes were two different colors. One was a Ruby red and the other a Sapphire blue. She was gorgeous.

 

The girl approached the counter and glanced upwards at the menu for a few moments before facing Pearl.

 

Pearl had seen this girl before.

In her dreams.

 

Pearl could travel into peoples dreams. Perhaps she saw this girl in her dream or somebody else's.

When Pearl dreamt, it was weird. She could involuntarily travel into someones dream. It wasn't hard considering she lived in a dorm filled with people. She'd sometimes become lost in these dreams, but she was always aware that it wasn't real.

 

She'd become lost in a world that didn't exist.

 

"Hello."

 

Pearl yanked herself from the thoughts in her head and returned her attention to the customer.

 

"Uh...Hi...What can I get for you today?"

 

"One dark coffee."

 

One dark coffee? A bland, boring, dark-as-the-midnight-sky coffee?

 

"That's it? You don't want any cream or sugar or milk?"

 

 

"Nope."

 

"O-Okay.."

 

Pearl quickly turned after taking the young womans order. She pressed buttons on machines and worked quickly to finish the customers order.

 

Within seconds the coffee was handed to the young woman.

 

"Oh wait...I'm sorry, I never got your name for  the order."

 

"Garnet."

 

 

 

 

A few hours passed. Pearls shift finally ended. She packed up her belongings and slid on her coat before closing and locking the back door behind her.

 

She could hear faint talking around her. When she turned to see who it was, the person pulled out a knife. A sharp kitchen knife whose blade could kill someone in seconds.

 

Pearl took a few steps back as the person got closer. The figure looked familiar as if Pearl had seen them before.

 

Had seen  _her_ before.

 

"G-Garnet...?"

 

 

 

 

 


	2. The Next Step

**Had she been dreaming again?**

 

This surely couldn't be real. Had she fallen asleep and traveled into someones dream? Perhaps Garnets? Pearl didn't remember falling asleep though.

 

She wasn't exactly the type of person to do something so stupid, especially while on the clock.

 

 

This surely wasn't a dream.

 

When Pearl identified the person approaching her with such a dangerous weapon in hand, she took a few steps backwards and watched the figure Garnet had been communicating with come out of the shadows.

 

She was much shorter than Pearl and Garnet. She had long hair and skin that was a slightly lighter tone than Garnets. She was a little chubby and had adorable freckles across her face. Her eyes were purple.

 

The shorter girl took a pocket knife out of her jacket. It was smaller than Garnets knife, but one swift strike could do just as much damage. 

 

"What's...going on...?"

 

When Garnet took another step forward, Pearl dashed away. She could hear the two of their footsteps very close behind her.

 

They ran through puddles, small forest areas and a park. Even a few small dark alleys before Pearl took a right turn to her dorm.

 

She ran in, slammed the door behind her, and made a beeline for her room.

 

 

_A forest._

 

_A small forest with a large pond in the middle._

_She noticed yelling in the distance. Trying to ignore them, she watched the flamingos and penguins swim and play._

 

It was a little hard to ignore when the yelling got louder. And closer.

 

"I told you she could travel!"

 

It was Garnets voice. Pearl just wasn't going to get a break today. 

 

"I didn't think you were serious, Garnet!"

 

The smaller one Pearl had seen earlier was there too.

With a shaky, certainly scared voice, Pearl yelled

"How do you keep finding me? Why do you keep following me?!"

 

Garnet quickly equipped her knife.

She hurled it towards Pearls face.

 

Pearl quickly put her arms infront her face, bracing herself for the painful impact. But she never felt a thing.

 

We she opened her eyes, the knife had stopped in mid-air. Right infront of her face. Literally inches away.

 

"See?! I told you she's different!"

 


	3. Even Stranger

**The knife fell to the ground.**

 

"Leave me alone!"

 

Pearl turned to run again, but found herself trapped between a brick wall and the two attackers.

 

"Hey! We need to speak to you!"

 

"NO!"

 

Pearl slammed her fists against the brick wall which, much to Pearls surprise, quickly crumbled to the ground. She leaped over the small pile and ran.

 

"This girl is  **annoying**!"

The smaller one shouted at Garnet who in response only gave a light nod.

 

"We'll get her tomorrow. I know where she works."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She screamed.

 

Pearl felt herself fall and hit the floor. Certainly not the best way to wake up. She had almost no recollection of the previous dream other than something about being chased, a knife, and Garnet. She then remembered Garnets final statement.

 

"We'll get her tomorrow."

 

That part made Pearl shiver. Not only did the stranger know where Pearl worked, but they both had the same history class. And of course, as luck would have it, Pearl had history class today. At exactly 12 o'clock noon.

 

She picked herself off of the floor.

After a night of running, chasing, and having her life threated multiple times, she felt exhausted. Even after sleeping.

 

 **Mumbling something about dreams** , Pearl rubbed her eyes and picked up a white shirt, a small blue sweater, and leggings that looked like jeans.

 

She forced herself into the bathroom. After a warm shower, she got dressed and walked back into her room.She shut the door behind her and dropped onto her bed. Pearl read the small digital clock sitting on her desk.

 

_9:30 a.m._

 


	4. When She Thought Nothing Would Get Worse

**She made herself tea.**

She read almost every novel she had on her shelf, checked her dashboard on Tumblr fifteen times, and even sorted all 2,567 photos in her camera roll into specific folders so she could easily find them.

 

And it still felt like an eternity.

It was Pearls 3rd year of college. She'd already gotten majority of her credits and education. All she needed was 3 more classes. History, Advanced algebra, and finally Animation 3. And she'd be done with college.

 

Only three classes. Not much studying and not much stress. But even with the lack of classes and homework to do, Pearl felt drowned in the previous events. Her mind raced everywhere.

 

She'd seem to space out everytime she went into deep though. And it seemed like an eternity before she'd snap back into reality.

 

Glancing at her clock one more time, she got up from her bed.

 

_11:17 a.m._

After reading Mango Shaped Space for the 5th time in a row, she convinced herself to go check her mail.

 

Pearl walked down the dorm hallway, passing by dorms where most girls had already left for class. She walked to the mailboxes by the dorm entrance.

 

Pearl grabbed her key and unlocked her mailbox to see a small piece of paper that was lightly folded.

 

_Meet me in closet B in the gym. Be there by 12:00 noon or else._

 

Pearl almost dropped the paper immediately.

 

Was she really going to take that risk? Especially after almost being killed twice?

 

Did she honestly have any other choice?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12 rolled around. Pearl walked towards the gym entrance with a small can of mace in her hand.

She heard footsteps approaching and almost instinctively grabbed the mace.

 

 

Before she could move, she was being shoved into the closet.

 

"GET OFF OF ME!"

 

Before Pearl could do anything, she felt a sharp pain in her neck.

 

She didn't even get a chance to react before the world went dark.


	5. Blue and Red

**Pearls eyes quickly fluttered open.**

She felt like she had been to this place before. It seemed extremely familiar. Almost too familiar.

It was Pearls parents house.

 

Pearl  _hated_ her parents.

 

They were rude, obnoxious, annoying, homophobic, ignorant, and many other things.

 

But it seemed as though the house was empty. It was just her. And a sudden voice behind her.

 

"Hello."

 

Pearl nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice. She quickly turned around to see a short girl.

 

Much shorter than Pearl. But a little taller than the girl who was with Garnet.

 

Her hair had bangs that covered her eyes and the remainder of her hair flowed down to her waist. She wore a royal blue dress that complimented her blue lipstip.

 

"Sorry for scaring you. We just needed to speak with you."

 

We..?

 

Oh.

 

It all suddenly clicked.

 

"You're with Garnet, aren't you?"

 

The shorter girl only nodded.

"Why do you keep following me? I don't understand why you can't just leave me alone."

 

The shorter girl walked towards Pearl.

 

"We know you can travel through dreams. We all can too. We just need to discuss it with you."

 

Pearl took a few steps backwards in response to the statement.

 

"Discuss what? There's nothing to discuss."

 

"Yes, there is. Your dream traveling is a rare genetic trait. Not only can you travel through dreams, but you can use it to travel to other realms."

 

Pearl could'nt believe her ears.

 

"But first, let's see how well your dream intelligence is. Do you know where we are?"

 

Pearl glanced at the house and then back at the shorter figure.

 

"We're at my parents house. But, I know this is a dream."

 

The girl nodded.

"How did you figure out it was a dream?"

 

"Well for starters, I would never go near my parents house. Also, the ocean is a slightly darker shade of blue and the sound of the seagulls chirping is off key."

 

The smaller figure took a final step forward.

 

"Good."


	6. Figuring Out Them

**Pearl glanced around the terrain before continuing the conversation.**

 

"Who are you?"

 

"My name is Sapphire. Welcome to the team."

 

"The..team...?"

 

Sapphire nodded in response. She gestured for Pearl to follow her. Soon the two girls were traveling through forests, cotton candy fields, carnivals, dollhouses, and other weird settings that only dreams could crazily generate.

 

Sapphire stopped infront of a small entrance.

 

"This is our base."

 

Pearl glanced inside before she realized Sapphire had already entered the mysterious facility.

 

"Come on. Everybody's waiting for you."

 

Pearl shyly followed her in. She glanced in every direction, taking in the foreign building.

 

"Who's everybody...?"

 

"You'll see."

 

The two entered a small room. It had a desk, filing cabinets, three chairs infront of the desk, and a small window that was muddy and barely transparent.

Three people were already in the room. One had been standing behind the desk. She was tall, atleast 6 feet tall, and had long curly red that flowed a little past her waist.

 

The other two had been sitting infront of the desk. Pearl guessed they had been having a conversation before she and Sapphire came in. The other two were easily indentified as Garnet and her short sidekick.

 

"Welcome," The taller woman behind the desk began.

"You must be Pearl. My name is Rose. Please, have a seat."

 

She gestured towards the vacant seat infront of the desk. Pearl sat down without a word. She silently planned an escape in her head. Who knew what would happen? Garnet was already proven to be a mystery box and Pearl hardly knew the other girls inside the small office.

 

"It's very nice to finally meet you." Rose had begun as she sat at her desk.

 

"How do you like our team so far?"

 

Pearl glanced at the contents on the desk before she answered question.

 

"I guess it's kinda nice."

 

"How come it's only 'kinda' nice?"

 

"Well, I was almost killed twice and then tricked and possibly kidnapped. This is a dream."

 

Rose laughed to herself.

 

"Sorry about that. We had to make sure you weren't a demon from another realm. Seems like you're not."

 

Rose stopped herself from laughing and went back to Pearls previous statement.

 

"What do you mean almost killed twice? I only sent Garnet and Amethyst after you when you were at the coffee shop."

 

Pearl returned her attention to Rose.

 

"They were in one of my dreams. Garnet threw a knife at me and almost stabbed me right through the head. That's all I remember."

 

Rose's expression quickly changed and her attention returned to Garnet and Amethyst.

 

Garnet turned away.

 

"That's all you remember?" 

 

Pearl turned to the shorter figure who appeared to have asked that question.

 

"You should be able to remember much more than that. A lot more happened."

 

"That's all I can recall."

 

Amethyst had a confused expression on her face now.

"That's weird. We usually remember every detail of our adventures."

 

 


	7. Thoroughly Confused

**Pearl's attention returned to Rose who appeared to still be staring down Garnet.**

Their conversation started up again. Something about listening to rules and commands, somethin like that. Amethyst still looked over at Pearl with that confused and curious expression on her face. As for Pearl, she just let her mind wander.

 

The dream fiasco was quickly pushed to the back of her mind and many questions replaced it.

 

_Where am I?_

_Should I really trust these people? I hardly know them._

 

_Why is the short one- Amethyst still staring at me? It's creepy..._

 

_Is this really the entire team? Not many people are here......_

 

"Pearl! Hey! Snap out of it!"

 

What?

 

Pearl blinked and instantly came back to reality. Rose, Garnet, and Amethyst had left the room. All that was left was Sapphire.

 

"You okay?"

 

She let the question wander around in her mind.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

 

"Good. I'm going to take you on the grand tour."

 

Pearl nodded and followed Sapphire through the building. Many hallways and rooms; Way more than Pearl had originally imagined. She saw way more people than she had expected to see.

 

Some of them were shorter than her but the amount of people who towered over her were much greater.

 

They passed computers, locker rooms, driving courses, swimming pools, simulator rooms, gyms, even a few snackrooms. It was all amazing.

"Ruby!"

Sapphire's voice yanked Pearl out of her daze. Ruby?

"Ruby! We're over here!"

 


	8. Understanding

Sapphire was looking in the direction of one of the workout rooms within the facility  
A young woman, perhaps around Sapphire's height, approached Sapphire and squeezed her into a tight hug. The two stayed in their embrace for a few seconds before looking up to Pearl.

"Hi!" Ruby waved to Pearl, giving a smile. Pearl waved back and listened as Sapphire introduced the two to eachother. Ruby was Sapphire's the girlfriend, the two had been for dating for 3 years now. They seemed to be practically inseperable. 

"Is she the new recruit that G and Ame were talking about?" Ruby asked Sapphire who nodded in response. "They've been trying to locate her for weeks."

"Wait, what?" Pearl was filled with confusion.

Ruby looked over to Sapphire, confused as well. "....Did you guys not tell her about the whole locating process?"

Sapphire sighed, looking up to Pearl. "Allow me to elaborate. When you travel within dreams you give off a magic aura. We all have mastered travelling between dreams and different worlds that exist within our heads. We have been sensing another aura for almost six months now, but we've been a little pre-occupied. We need you to help us, Pearl. The ability that you have isn't just for fun. The entire world-- No, the entire Universe could be in severe danger. That's why we recruited you. You have the ability to help us save billions of lives."

"What exactly is happening?" Pearl asked the two.

Ruby answered this time. "There's been monsters coming out of people's dreams. The strangest thing. Of course they're created in people's heads so they're violent and crazy. Everytime we manage to kill one, another pops up. It's frustrating."


	9. Lessons On Dreaming

"...Monsters...?"

"Yes, monsters!" Ruby replied impatiently. "We don't know how they're managing to escape from dreams, but they are. Anyways, if you're going to help us potentially save the universe you need to train."

Sapphire spoke up. "Rose is supposed to be training her on the 7th floor. Her, Garnet, and Amethyst are all going to be training for the next hour or so."

"Follow us."

They both motioned for Pearl to follow and once again Pearl walked throughout the humongous facility before reaching was she assumed was the 7th floor where she'd be training. 

Once they arrived, Ruby and Sapphire waved to Pearl and walked away. Pearl walked into the large room which was made entirely of white tiles. She could see Rose waving to her from the center of the room. Garnet and Amethyst were standing there as well, they two equipped with weapons. Garnet had two red gauntlets, each with spikes on the knuckles. Amethyst had a whip that was decorated with sharp spikes and tips that were sure to leave a mark.

"Welcome, Pearl. It's good to see you again." Rose smiled to Pearl and motioned for her to come to them. "I know we haven't had much time to really give you a lot of details on the whole organization, but as Ruby and Sapphire explained to you, monters are appearing everywhere and we have to act fast."


	10. Official Training

"Now, I don't have time to explain everything so here are the basic rules:

1\. Don't kill anyone, including me, Garnet, or Amethyst.

2\. Use your surroundings to your advantage. Weapons and tools are scattered everywhere. Feel free to equip them.

3\. Third and final, when I 'End', training ends.

Got it?"

Pearl nodded to Rose. Garnet and Amethyst ran to opposite sides of the room and Rose blew her whistle. "Begin!"

Garnet rushed towards Pearl, the gauntlets on Garnet's hands smoking. Pearl could feel hot radiation from the gauntlets from several feet away. The first thing she noticed was a blue staff sitting near hear and within seconds it was in her hands. Pearl swung it at Garnet, the two going back and forth between throwing attacks and dodging potential hits.

Pearl used the opposite end of the staff on Garnet, jabbing the taller woman in the side, who in response made her gauntlets disppear and swung punches towards Pearl. Some hit her, others were blocked. Pearl pushed Garnet back, but had to run when she noticed Amethyst approaching. Amethyst's whip was swung forward, wrapping itself around Pearl's staff and yanking it out of her hands, which caused Pearl to fall forward. She grabbed a nearby sword and quickly stood up.

 

Amethyst swung her whip again, but Pearl cut it in half with her sword and charged forward to hit Amethyst. Of course, she knocked Amethyst multiple times with the opposite end of the sword, to be sure that she wouldn't fatally injure the girl.

Soon, Garnet was back up and grabbed Pearl from behind, pushing her to the ground.


	11. Coping with Responsibilities

Garnet's hand flew back and a fist came forward towards Pearl's face. Before the hand could hit her, Pearl swung forward. Her eyes were wide and looking around what seemed to be the Nurses' Office of the school. 

"You're awake!" A nurse came towards Pearl who was laying in one of the beds in the room. "Thank goodness you're okay. You've been out like a lightbulb for hours. Now...Pearl...?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you know what happened? A couple students found you unconcious. I thought maybe you'd know how you ended like that."

"I'm not sure...I'm sorry, I need to get back to my dorm." Pearl stood up from the bed which, in return, caused the Nurse to stand up as well.

"Are you sure? You need to rest. When you fell you hit your head so hard it has a mark on it. You could even have a concussion!"

"I'm okay, ma'am. I must get back to my room now. I have to study for my classes."

"Actually, I excused you from your classes for the remainder of the week. I assumed you'd need to rest. I recommend that you do. Nurse's Orders."

Pearl nodded and after some talking and an ice pack being shoved into her hand, Pearl soon made her way to her dorm.

Everything seemed to get more and more unbelievable. Monsters? Magic? Dreaming facilites? It all sounded like something out of a movie. It was completely ludacris. Besides, it was a dream! But if she ever saw Garnet or Amethyst again, she'd have to find a way to believe it all.

One way or another.

Pearl found herself lying on her bed, in her dorm, staring at the alarm clock. 6:00 p.m. She missed all of her classes that day. Although she was excused from them, she still couldn't stand not being there to gain the education she came for.


	12. Their Return

"Welcome back."

A familiar voice echoed through the training room where Pearl was once fighting in. She was lying on the floor, her eyes looking around the room and processing what was happening. She stood up and dusted off her pants. "Garnet..."

"This is why you need training. If you're going to help us potentially save the Universe, you're going to have to master dreams. For starters, at least master staying inside of one. You must've woken up while we were sparring. That would be quite an inconvience if we were to incounter an enemy."

"I apologize, Garnet. I just...I don't know about all of this. It's ridiculous! I'm just a college student trying to gain my education. I didn't sign up for protecting the Universe! All the times I've travelled through dreams were accidents. I can't control my dreaming at all! I didn't asked for any of this."

Footsteps were heard and two of the girls who Pearl had briefly spoken to earlier were back. Sapphire, her long blue hair now tied into a bun and her blue skirt stopping at her knees. Ruby, her bandana tied around her wait and her jean jacket being worn around her arms and shoulders.


	13. Continuing From Where we Left Off

"...Are we going to continue training?" 

The three looked at eachother, simutaneously, and dashed off in different directions leaving Pearl's question unanswered. She didn't see where Sapphire went. The woman moved remarkably faster than the other two ladies battling alongside her. All Pearl caught was a blur of her royal blue dress.

Ruby, on the other hand, summoned what appeared to be a boxing glove on her left hand. It was various shades of red and the worst part was Ruby was already in good shape. She was clearly very athletic and strong. Pearl didn't want to imagine what would happen if she came into contact with it. 

Garnet summoned two gauntlets and charged right for Pearl, just as she did before. Suddenly, the spear Pearl had armed herself with earlier appeared. She gripped it tightly and positioned herself to block a potential attack from the tallest of the three opponents. 

 

There was punching, swinging, grunting, and continous struggling between the two girls as they trained. It took every fiber in Pearl's body to keep from waking up. Who knew dreaming could be so tiring? She had to focus on staying in the dream, blocking attacks, attacking back, and keeping her balance. It was a lot to process all at once.

 

There was a sudden thud as Pearl hit the floor. She slipped and fell, her spear now fallen out of her grip and rolling across the floor far out of her reach. Garnet took this opportunity to launch herself at Pearl, flying towards her at full speed with her fist extended. As if almost on cue, a purple-redish haze filled the room. Pearl found herself having difficulty to breathe and soon Garnet was having trouble focusing too. The two girls had vanished completely from sight. Just as the seemingly poisonous gas reached Pearl, she woke up.

She was tangled within the blankets, her face squished into her pillow making it difficult for her to catch her breath when she first woke up. 

 

"Uh oh..."


End file.
